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R&D centre on autonomous shipping in Turku

Rolls-Royce has opened a research facility in the Finnish Turku where it will develop technologies required to shape the future of an increasingly more autonomous global shipping industry.

The Research & Development Centre for Autonomous Ships will enable to execute projects focussed on autonomous navigation, the development of land-based control centres, and the use of Artificial Intelligence in future remote and autonomous shipping operations.

The Centre also includes the Remote and Autonomous Experience Space, which is aimed at showcasing the autonomous ship technologies Rolls-Royce has already introduced, as well as those in the development stage.

"There is great global interest in autonomous vehicles and vessels as a future means of transport. The opening of the Rolls-Royce Research & Development Centre for Autonomous Ships here in Turku, a maritime city with a history of technological innovation, will help achieve our goal of digitalising the country's transport sector," Anne Berner, the Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications, commented.

Mikael Makinen, President, Rolls-Royce Marine, added, "I'm proud to say that the R&D centre is now up and running and that all stakeholders, partners and customers will be able see here what a remote controlled and autonomous maritime future could look like, and work with us to shape the future. The experience space that is part of the centre here in Turku, and a similar one we have in our Technology Centre in Norway, is aimed at demonstrating to our customers the very tangible benefits of what is often considered an intangible technology."

"The centre allows us to more accurately communicate our capabilities, what we have available today and what will be available tomorrow. It will completely focus on the development of solutions capable of smoothing the maritime industry's transition to the digital age. An autonomous maritime ecosystem will open up unprecedented opportunities," Karno Tenovuo, Senior Vice President, Rolls-Royce Ship Intelligence, summed up.

Read also the articles Shipping's biggest revolution is coming. Rolls-Royce's unmanned ship concept, and Destination 2020. The world's first autonomous and zero-emission container vessel in the 3/16 >>> and 3-4/17 >>> editions of BTJ, respectively